Challenges

A Lesson in Mindful Eating

As the group has made their way through the SAVOR book study these past few weeks we have learned a lot about mindful eating and how that leads us to a mindful life.

I wanted to share two exercises you can use to bring more mindfulness to your meals and thus bring more mindfulness to your life and help you attain a balanced weight and a balanced life.

#1 Put your fork or eating utensil down between each bite. I know it sounds like you will be eating for 3 hours if you eat this way. Your challenge is to pick a day, just one day, and do it for each meal that day. Just try it. And please share with me your results. It brings awareness to the table. It makes you think. It causes you to BE in the present moment. Yes, at first, it may also cause some frustration, mostly to your ego self, because he or she is probably used to rushing through at least one meal in a day, but maybe you rush through 95% of your meals. Your digestion will thank you to practice this method often.

#2 Take 10 deep breaths before each meal. Yes, 10. It will slow down your metabolism but also it will change the chemistry in your body. When we eat under stress, which most of us do all the time, our body produces cortisol. That cortisol signals the body to store fat. We need to slow down at our meal times each day. Taking time to take 10 deep breaths, slow, deep, breaths slows our whole body down, this is a win, win, win for you! Your digestion slows down, your mind stops racing, you relax. Remember being in a relaxed state for meal time is optimal.

It’s time for a change. It is time to become mindful in all areas of our lives. I wish you much success.